Claim
A viral video on social media claims that Azan (Islamic call to prayer) is being recited to control a wildfire in Los Angeles, USA. The claim suggests that a group of Muslims is reciting Azan in unison to extinguish the uncontrollable fire in Los Angeles. See the posts here, here & here.
NewsChecker has verified that this viral claim is false.
Fact
We conducted keyword and reverse image searches to determine the viral video’s authenticity. These searches showed that the video has been circulating on various social media platforms and websites for over two years.
A reverse image search located the same video on 9Gag, uploaded on October 17, 2022, titled: “A supermarket was on fire. A religious group tried to extinguish the fire through group prayer. It didn’t work, obviously.”
We also discovered the same video on the popular platform YouTube, which was uploaded two years ago. The video description on YouTube mentions that the incident occurred on June 4, 2022, in Pakistan’s Jail Chowrangi area. A fire broke out in a supermarket, and a group of individuals attempted to extinguish it by reciting Azan. see the video here.
Through keyword searches, we found reports that describe the incident. For instance, reports from the Times of India and Daily Motion confirm that the incident occurred in Pakistan and were published two years ago.
The viral video claiming Azan was recited in Los Angeles to control a wildfire is false. The incident took place in Pakistan two years ago and has no connection to Los Angeles or its wildfires.
Result: False
Sources:
Times of India and Daily Motion
9Gag; YouTube video
